Police rescued 147 trafficked persons in Metro Cebu - group

CEBU – Despite the Philippines’ reputation of being an international sex tourist destination with close to a million Filipinos being trafficked internationally and millions more within the country’s border every year, based on the U.S. State Department estimate, only 147 sex trafficking victims in Metro Cebu have been rescued by the law enforcers for the past four years.

The International Justice Mission, a non-government organization involved in the fight against trafficking in persons, reported that since 2004 to December 2008 the law enforcers in Metro Cebu have only rescued 147 victims.

The highest number of victims rescued was in 2007 and 2008 with a total of 54 and 66, respectively after the IJM got involved in the fight two years ago. The number soared from 16, the highest number rescued in 2004, before the IJM’s active involvement in the fight. In 2005, only two were rescued and nine in 2006.

In a recent forum, the IJM held in cooperation with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, it reported that since June 2007 to December 12, 2008 they have arrested a total of 30 suspects in Metro Cebu for violation of Republic Act 9208 otherwise known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

Through IJM intervention, they have charged a total of 35 persons while 21 cases are currently prosecuted by them, 21 in Cebu City; one in Mandaue and six in Lapu-Lapu.

Lawyer Andrey Sawchenko, IJM Cebu Field Office director, said they are expecting the number of rescued victims to increase next year as well as the number of suspects arrested and prosecuted.

Sawchenko is likewise expecting additional conviction in the next year. So far, there is only a single trafficking conviction in Cebu City, which is the first and only in Central Visayas.

The case stemmed from a 2004 operation conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation based on the information provided by IJM. A sting operation resulted to the arrest of two suspects and the rescue of three minors and six women who were all hired to engage in prostitution.

The two accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined P3 million excluding the P50,000 moral damages to each of the victims.

The Philippines was tagged in a 2003 report of the Ending Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking as an international sex tourist destination with 300,000 Japanese sex tourists alone visiting the country every year.

The same report cited the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund estimating 100,000 prostituted children in the country, 10 percent of whom are reportedly male.

On the other hand, acting deputy chief of Mission Scott Bellard of the U.S. State Department estimated during a national police seminar and workshop on trafficking in persons held in Manila three years ago that around 800,000 Filipinos are being trafficked internationally and millions more are trafficked within the country’s borders annually.

The U.S. State Department reported that the endemic poverty, high unemployment rate, cultural propensity toward migration, weak rule of law, the environment and sex tourism as the primary causes of the problem. — Fred P. Languido/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)